Boulder Break

Running camps are a staple for many top scholastic teams, and the market has expanded to adult runners wanting to improve. Often, however, the weeklong time commitment is too much for Type-A runners who are typically involved in a hundred and one other activities as well.

With that in mind, Greg McMillan came up the idea of the Running Getaway in Boulder, CO, in June; a four-day retreat for runners in one of America’s running meccas while being inspired and educated and improving their own running.

"We conceived of the Getaway as a vacation for runners, not a running camp," said McMillan, who felt it came off exactly the way he had envisioned it. The Getaway was a limited enrollment concept, to provide the maximum one-on-one interaction between participants and clinicians. "We realized that next year we can handle more" than the half dozen who attended this time, said McMillan. "But we’ll always keep it small."

The weekend opened at a reception with Lorraine Moller, who brought her Olympic bronze medal and allowed each participant to hold it. This inspiration carried over for the next three days when they did guided runs on some of Boulder’s famous training trails—Boulder Creek, Mesa, Reservoir, and Magnolia Road. "Now they can name drop to their friends," said McMillan.

To fuel these workouts, meals were at some of the best restaurants in Boulder. "We wanted the participants to feel like they were on a vacation, not going away to a training camp," McMillan said.

Things weren’t simply eating and running, however. Olympian Todd Williams gave a presentation on what it takes to become an elite runner, and then stayed the rest of the weekend to participate in the group runs. Attendees got training ideas from McMillan and University of Colorado assistant coach Jay Johnson. They also joined in a larger presentation by Nobby Hashizume of the Lydiard Foundation on the training principles of the late New Zealand coach, who did a similar clinic himself a year ago.

Part of another day was devoted to personalized gait analysis and shoe fittings at Fleet Feet Sports, one of the sponsors of the Getaway. This was one of Boulder’s rare rainy days, and the participants were offered the option of skipping the planned run to go shopping in town, but the vote was unanimous to head out to Boulder Reservoir. That dedication was rewarded with an invitation to Moller’s birthday party that evening.

Following a Sunday long run where they encountered several elite runners, including Jorge Torres, everyone relaxed by watching the Prefontaine Classic on TV before returning home to the realities of training amidst everyday life.

"We were absolutely thrilled with how it went," said McMillan a few days later. Plans have already been made for next year, when the Getaway will be held later in the month. In addition, a similar Getaway will be held in McMillan’s hometown of Austin, TX, in mid-February, to "give people from cold-weather climates a chance to do some warm training during the winter."

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